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Electrics problems on GS850G

  • Thread starter Thread starter horlix
  • Start date Start date
H

horlix

Guest
Hi All,

Grateful if anyone can give me pointers on the problem(s) below. GS850G (1981) has been sat in my garage for 3-4 years and I'm in the process of restoring her to working order. I'm pretty poor at this lark and don't have a haynes manual yet so am struggling a little!

So far I've replaced the battery, charged and installed. At first she wouldnt turn over at all, just a click, so with much help from searching these forums I managed to tie that down to a bad ground from battery negative to engine. Now she turns over. Have removed the carbs and cleaned the float bowls and intakes with carb cleaner.

Next problems:-
  • on turning over for a few seconds the negative lead from battery to starter solenoid is getting very hot
  • there is no spark on any of the plugs though pretty sure coils are getting power - guess how I know that? (:-P)
So I'm guessing theres a short somewhere? Are the two problems seperate or perhaps related? I have a voltmeter but I'm not really sure where to start. Can anyone give me a few pointers please?

Cheers,

Mark.
 
- Cable at solenoid getting hot: Bad connection. Remove and scrape clean.
- No spark, but apparently something at coils? You refereing to the high voltage? Like convulse your entire body? But no spark at any plug?
 
- Cable at solenoid getting hot: Bad connection. Remove and scrape clean.
Click to expand...
Thanks will do that.
- No spark, but apparently something at coils? You refereing to the high voltage? Like convulse your entire body? But no spark at any plug?
Click to expand...
Not quite that bad, but certainly a bit of a jolt. I'm picking up some new plugs tomorrow but am a bit worried that its the coils or the harness since none of the plugs are working.
 
No spark at any plug, you say.

Some comments:
- About only one thing that is common to all four plugs is the "pickup" (the elctronic 'points'). Test for that is easy if you have a multimeter.

- In addition to the plugs themselves, dont forget about the plug caps. They are removable from the wires (twist/pull), and they do fail. They have some resistor in them that can fail.

- But with all four not firing, I would firrst invenstigate the one thing that is common to all four.

- If you dont have a schematic fo rhtat 850, PM me you email addrs, I can send you a scan of a color schematic for the whole bike. Let me know what model /year.
Meantime I will PM you a link to a scan I have of a very general schamatic of a typicical GS igniotion system.
.
 
If you are getting shocked when holding the wire, but nothing is getting to a plug, first of all, replace the plugs. There might be something buried up in the deep, dark recesses of the plug that is shorting it out. If you are getting shocked while the wire is attached to the plug that is installed in the engine, you need new plug wires. There is obviously enough of a crack in the insulation to get to you, so there is a good chance that it might also be shorting directly to the cylinder head, instead of making it all the way to the plug.

And hopefully it's not the negative wire from the battery to the solenoid that's getting hot. It should be the positive wire from the battery to the solenoid, the negative goes to the chassis for a ground. :oops:


.
 
Hmm...and what if it is the negative thats getting hot? I'm going to clean it up at the weekend as Redman suggested, but perhaps that indicates a short somewhere too?
 
There is NOT supposed to be a connection from the battery negative terminal to the solenoid. If that is what you have, that is a direct short.
Both terminals on the solenoid are POSITIVE. 12v positive in from the battery, and 12v positive out to the starter.

Earl




horlix Next problems:-[LIST said:
[*]on turning over for a few seconds the negative lead from battery to starter solenoid is getting very hot
[/list]Mark.
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
Ouch, ok, best go and check that then before I do anything else!
 
Ok, my mistake, as you say there is no -ve from battery to solenoid, I mistraced the wire. Anyway cleaned it, rerouted and its now fine.

And to end on a positive note, replaced the spark plugs and now have spark at all 4 and the bike starts on the button every time, result.

Thanks for everyone's help.
 
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